So it looks like (via the front page) that this has hit yet another snag/slow down. I'm seriously starting to wonder if it is actually going to happen or not. I do think it could be really cool, and hope it does, because as neat as the Clone Wars is, if Star Wars truly is "forever" I think the franchise needs a return to live action - whether it be movies or television.

I think a series with background characters would work just fine, since they would cease to be just background characters as we got to know them through the course of the series, the main cast from the OT would end up the background characters for this series. What makes me iffy on this idea is that Lucas is writing the scripts himself is he not? If he's actually accepting some help and suggestions this time around or outlining the ideas to a writing team and letting them iron them out then I can see this working, but if not, we may get lots of great dialogue like the romance from AOTC. Lucas is a great idea man, but I'm not so sure about his writing skills.

I do hope this turns out someday, though I'd almost like to see the whole premise scrapped though and replaced with something completely different. It always seems to be the tiny timeframe starting with the PT and ending with the OT, why not do something fresh. Whole new time period, whole new cast, the works. Why not instead of a long time ago in a galaxy far away they make it a long long long long time ago in a galaxy far away or fairly recently in a galaxy far away. That'd be neat, and less likely to retcon a bunch of events from the films.

Call me delusional, but I think he's decided to halt development of a live-action tv show to work on a sequel trilogy instead. I have fanaties of him announcing this at Celebration V.

Although I don't know how likely that is, I sometimes...at least a little bit...wonder about that too. All his talk about Avatar when that craze was going on last year makes me think it has at least crossed his mind, and maybe wanting to try to outdo that in his own way. Probably wishful thinking though.

Call me delusional, but I think he's decided to halt development of a live-action tv show to work on a sequel trilogy instead. I have fanaties of him announcing this at Celebration V.

I'm not going to say it because I had a similar thought... Mine was more tied to the TV series though, that Lucas was maybe going to do a movie rather than a film, feeling that he once again was "trapped by the medium" he wanted to use to put it out there, and instead is deciding it'd make a better movie.

He did this with Clone Wars, but didn't beef it up any for the film launch, he just condensed a number of episodes into a movie. He felt the story was too grand to bottle up though IIRC, so he went with the movie kick-off route.

Could the live-action TV show be facing something similar?

Star Trek's latter series make me wonder if he truly feels that constrained by TV not being grand enough. Those were pretty "big" series, but with TV budgets they still pulled off great action and imagery.

It can't be that hard. If Stargate, Star Trek, B5, and dozens of other sci-fi shows can pull it off, George can pull it off. He just needs to dial back the effects about 75% and get used to a lot of rubber-forehead aliens instead of a brand-new CGI menagerie every episode. It's just the nature of the beast.

Or follow the Spartacus approach and film on a handful of interior sets with location shots filled in with CGI. That's pretty much what he did for the prequels anyway.

Yeah, I don't know... Lucas put the prequals off, he says, because he didn't have the technology to do them as he wanted... The precedent for not wanting to do something because it's not affordable (at the time) has been set then, so maybe this is just a similar case.

The show's working title is Star Wars: Underworld, and the interview seems to confirm a lot of the rumors around the show, such as the "dark" and "adult" nature of the story and whatnot. The title seems to back up the material the show has been rumored to be about too... The criminals, bounty hunters, etc.

I'm still very interested in this... It sounds good and they sound determined to see it done.

When I think Star Wars I don't think dark and adult. I think swashbuckling fun. I know that is the trend in scifi thanks to BSG but I don't think that works here. Before Star Wars, the 70's were dominated by very dark and adult movies like the French Connection and the Godfather. Star Wars brought the fun back into the theaters and gave us the fun popcorn movies of the '80s. Star Wars needs to bring back that feeling to TV scifi not reenforce the trend that BSG started.

I think "dark and adult" can be swashbuckling and fun though... Lord of the Rings is a good example of having both. The balance can be there...

I think the OT had both, with characters like Han (before his ultimately pussification) being pretty seedy till the Alliance changed them. Jabba The Hutt, Bounty Hunters... those things are Star Wars, and they're the darker side of it ultimately. I think the series has a lot of potential. So does Clone Wars though and it's hit and miss.

The video's interesting too... McCallum adds that "Underworld" isn't just the gangster aspect too, but he mentions what's "funding it all", regarding the growing Empire and everything... I think Clone Wars was touching on this slightly, in the recent story arc... Slavers, Bounty Hunting, but also gargantuan criminal corporations.... I envision things like SFS, or Kuat Drive Yards, etc. The Companies that come out of the war on the winning side of things.

I just hope it doesn't turn out to be nothing but graphic murder, soft porn and language fest like so many other pay tv shows are. I want to see good sci fi that is both entertaining and makes you think not something totally depressing or over the top. If they can keep it PG or maybe PG13 I'll be happy.